(Originally broadcast on January 28, 2011) On this episode of Basic Black, our discussion focuses on President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Later in the show, we turn our attention to the sentence handed down to former Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner.
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(Originally broadcast on February 4, 2011) As we head into Black History Month and the 150th Anniversary year of the Civil War, this Basic Black conversation features a look at recent efforts at revisionism in black history.
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On June 23rd the American Experience presented a preview of the film Freedom Summer at the Strand Theatre, Dorchester, Mass. The screening was followed by a discussion with filmmaker Stanley Nelson and activists and icons of the civil rights movement, Bob Moses and Dave Dennis. Basic Black was on hand to live tweet the event; see below for an archive of photos and comments from the evening.

(PLEASE NOTE: BASIC BLACK RETURNS IN THE FALL WITH NEW CONVERSATIONS - CHECK BACK LATER THIS SUMMER FOR DETAILS.)

Fifty years ago this summer, the modern civil rights movement was front and center on the nation's headlines, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law and Freedom Summer was in full swing in Mississippi. But the struggle for racial equality, by law and in the voting booth, was from over and activists persisted in the fight often against systematic violent attacks including beating, arson, and murder. This week on Basic Black we acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the pivotal events of that summer and examine its impact on contemporary movements for racial, social and economic quality.

After the broadcast the discussion about Freedom Summer connected the strategies and passions of that movement to contemporary movements and how both the young and old made contributions for the benefit of later generations.

On June 23rd the American Experience presented a preview of the film Freedom Summer at the Strand Theatre, Dorchester, Mass. The screening was followed by a discussion with filmmaker Stanley Nelson and activists and icons of the civil rights movement, Bob Moses and Dave Dennis. Basic Black was on hand to live tweet the event; see below for an archive of photos and comments from the evening.

(PLEASE NOTE: BASIC BLACK RETURNS IN THE FALL WITH NEW CONVERSATIONS - CHECK BACK LATER THIS SUMMER FOR DETAILS.)

Fifty years ago this summer, the modern civil rights movement was front and center on the nation's headlines, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law and Freedom Summer was in full swing in Mississippi. But the struggle for racial equality, by law and in the voting booth, was from over and activists persisted in the fight often against systematic violent attacks including beating, arson, and murder. This week on Basic Black we acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the pivotal events of that summer and examine its impact on contemporary movements for racial, social and economic quality.

Professor Griff of the legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy gave a lecture on Malcolm X's influence in today's black culture at Northeastern University's John D. O'Bryant African-American Institute February 12.